Students across the region maintained a steady performance in the 2009 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) as grades remained on par with those of 2008.

According to the 2009 Annual Report of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC),  89 percent of candidates achieved grades I-V which are acceptable grades at the CAPE exams.

Last year there was a six percent increase in the number of candidates registering for CAPE. Some 24, 183 candidates registered for the CAPE examinations for 2009 compared with 22,782 candidates last year. The Council examined 46 units in 24 subjects this year, the report said.

Additionally students also performed well in the May/June 2009 Caribbean Certificated Secondary Education Certificate Exams (CSEC) and there was an increase in the percentage of candidates who attained the acceptable grades for 2009.

According to the report, 66 percent of the candidates achieved grades I-III, compared with 62 percent in 2008.

As it relates to the CAPE exams a breakdown of results in some of the main subject areas showed:

- 85 percent of students achieved grades 1-V in Unit one of Applied Mathematics compared with 86 percent in 2008, while in Unit 2, 96 percent of the candidates achieved grades I-V compared with 95 percent in 2008.

- 95 percent of the candidates earned Grades I-V in Unit 1 Accounting, compared with 92 per cent in 2008 and 85 percent in 2007, while in Unit 2 Accounting 88 per cent of candidates earned Grade I-V compared with 89 percent in 2008.

-Approximately 91 per cent of the candidates achieved grades 1 to V in Unit 1 Biology compared with 92 percent in 2008 while in Unit 2, 97 percent of the candidates achieved grades I-V, compared with 96 per cent in 2008.

-96 percent of the candidates achieved grades I-V in Communication Studies compared with 98 per cent in 2008 and 99 per cent in 2007. "Candidates performance on all papers was comparable to the two previous years with the exception of Paper 02 in which performance was significantly lower."

However, while students performed favorably overall, there is still room for improvement.

For example candidates' performance in the Literatures in English Unit 1 examination declined by approximately three per cent at Grades I-V compared with 2008, the report said.

"In 2009 approximately 85 percent of the candidates achieved Grades I-V, compared with 88 percent in 2008. This decline was mainly as a result of the decline in the performance of Module 2 (Poetry), particularly in Paper 01."

It added "Overall performance in Module 1 (Drama) and Module 3 (Prose) was consistent with 2008. In all three Modules candidates continued to underperform when asked to deal with the techniques the writers' used to craft their work and the effectiveness of such techniques."

In the case of the May/June 2009 CSEC exams 34 subjects were administered.

"For the third consecutive year there was an improvement in the performance of candidates," the report stated. Candidate entries increased from 143,017 in 2008 to 143, 489 in 2009," the report stated.

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